The miracle of the feeding of 5000 is one of the few stories found in all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You must believe it's in all four Gospels because the early Church wanted to make sure we never forgot this miracle.

The story goes that a young boy comes forward with almost nothing: five barley loaves and two fish. A child’s lunch. Not nearly enough to solve the problem in front of them. That boy could have looked at the thousands of hungry people and said, “What difference will this make? It’s not enough. Why bother?” He could have kept it for himself. He could have disappeared back into the crowd.

But he didn’t. He gave Jesus everything he had.

And maybe that is where the miracle really began. The first miracle wasn’t the multiplication of the bread … it was the surrender that came before it. Because Jesus didn’t ask the boy for what he didn’t have. He simply asked the boy to trust Him with what he did have.

And that is the question for each of us today:

“What are my five loaves and two fish?”

Maybe it’s:

A little time.

A little kindness.

A little forgiveness.

A little generosity.

A little faith.

We look at the needs of the world and think, “Lord, what I have is too small.” And Jesus says, “Give it to Me anyway.” Because little things placed in the hands of Jesus are never little. And this Gospel is not just a story from 2,000 years ago.

At an event we call The Million Meal Event each year 5,000 people from parishes across San Diego come together. Ordinary people. Busy people. People who simply have offered a few hours of their weekend, just a little of their time. And in those few hours … their “little” becomes two million meals for hungry families.

Five loaves. Two fish. Two million meals.

That’s what happens when ordinary people stop saying, “It’s not enough,” and start saying, “Lord, this is what I have … take it.” Because miracles begins the moment we stop holding on … and place it in His hands.

In today’s Gospel—Matthew 18:15–20—Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.” By “brother,” Jesus means someone we know and care about. And the sins he is referring to are serious sins that harm people and destroy relationships—dishonesty, hatred, addiction, or abuse.

This teaching can make us uncomfortable. Our culture tells us, “Don’t judge. Mind your own business.” Often, that is good advice. Jesus is not asking us to become moral referees, criticizing every mistake. He is asking us to love people enough to care when they are seriously harming themselves or others.

It is painful to watch someone we love damage their life, their family, or their relationship with God. We may stay silent because we do not know what to say or fear losing the relationship. But love cannot always remain silent. Sometimes love requires the courage to speak the truth. Fortunately, Jesus shows us how: privately, gently, and humbly.

The goal is not to embarrass someone, win an argument, or prove ourselves right. Jesus says the goal is to “win over your brother.” The goal is reconciliation. Ideally, a private conversation works. But if it doesn’t, Jesus says to involve one or two others who genuinely care about the person. Today, we might call this an intervention. And, if that fails, he encourages us to seek help from the Church—from a priest or another wise spiritual leader.

But before correcting anyone, we should examine our own hearts: “Am I speaking out of love—or because I want to feel superior?” “Am I trying to help—or trying to control?”

This Gospel does not permit us to condemn others. It asks us to love them enough to care. Christian love does not condemn people in their weakness—but neither does it abandon them there.

Then Jesus gives us an amazing promise: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

We do not face these difficult conversations alone. Christ is present in the truth spoken with love, the apology sincerely offered, the forgiveness freely given, and every honest effort to repair what has been broken.

Sometimes the most loving words are the hardest to say. But when truth is spoken with humility, compassion, and Christ in our midst, it becomes not a weapon that wounds—but a doorway to healing.

 Reflection on Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Homily:

The seeds Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel are being sown not only in the field we call the world but also in each one of us. Every one of us is a field and seeds are constantly being planted in our hearts.

Jesus tells us that the wheat and the weeds look almost identical at first. The difference becomes clear only when they begin to bear fruit in our lives. That is an important lesson:

• Not everything that looks good is good.
• Not every voice deserves our trust.
• Not every idea leads to life or bears good fruit in our lives.

Our culture plants seeds in us every day.

• Advertising tells us happiness comes from buying more stuff.
• Social media tells us our worth depends on likes and followers.
• Politics tempts us to see our neighbors as enemies.
• The world tells us success matters more than holiness.

It is so important that we learn to recognize which seeds come from God and which do not.

We’ve seen a beautiful example of this during the recent World Cup. After the final whistle, cameras often showed players from both teams, winners and losers, kneeling on the field in prayer. Think about that. In a tournament that celebrates talent, fame, and victory, these young athletes reminded millions of people around the world that there is something greater than winning. They were quietly saying: “Our identity is found first in God.” That is a good seed.

The world tells us “Winning is everything.” But the prayers of these athletes tell us in the field of their lives, “God comes first in victory and in defeat.” It is so easy to focus on the bad seeds growing all around us. But Jesus is also planting good seeds within us every day: Seeds of faith, hope, and mercy; seeds of forgiveness, patience, generosity, and love.

The question we are being asked today is: Which seeds are we watering? Every conversation, every choice, every hour spent online. Every prayer is watering something within us. The seeds we water become habits. Our habits shape our character. And our character shapes the person we become. Our first responsibility is not to spend our lives identifying the weeds in everyone else. Our first responsibility is to make sure the wheat in our own heart is growing. So today, don’t worry so much about the weeds growing in someone else’s field. Look instead at your own heart and ask: What am I watering?

Because whatever we water will grow and whatever grows within us will eventually reveal – to God – whether our life harvest is wheat or weeds.

 Jesus said: 

"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!"  This is one of those passages that can make us feel a bit uncomfortable. We know how powerful—and destructive—fire can be. The memory of last year's devastating fires in Los Angeles is still fresh. We've seen the heat, the smoke, the destruction. So, when Jesus says He came to set fire to the earth, we might instinctively recoil.

But I don't think Jesus is talking about a fire that destroys.                                             

I believe He's talking ... about the exact opposite.

The fire He came to bring is not meant to burn down, it's intended instead to burn within...  to burn within! It's the fire that stirs passion that sets a heart ablaze. He wants to set our hearts on fire... with love.

Think of the story told in scripture about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. On that first Easter, two disciples walked with the risen Jesus, not knowing it was Him. They thought He was gone forever. But after He revealed Himself and vanished, they turned to one another, and do you remember what they said:

"Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us?" "

"Were not our hearts burning within us?"

I believe that's the fire Jesus is talking about ... an inner flame that stirs up passion, love, and excitement for God.

We see it again at Pentecost, in the tongues of fire descending on the apostles. That fire—which is the Holy Spirit—transformed frightened men in hiding into bold witnesses who literally changed the world – with the fire of their faith.

This is the fire Jesus wants to kindle in each of us!                                                           

It's a fire that begins at our baptism and is rekindled whenever we gather for worship. 

It's a fire that is meant to spread far beyond these walls.

It's a fire that should burn so brightly it breaks through the "firewalls" of our fears, doubts, and divisions until every heart feels its warmth.

So the question each of us is being asked today is: 

How's your fire? Is it burning brightly?

There's a story about a priest in a little country church. On a bitter winter Sunday, he turned off the furnace's gas pilot light and the gas supply—but left the blower running. When the congregation arrived, they could hear the swish of the fan, but the church was ice cold. 

His sermon that day was titled:

"The Blower's Still Blowing, But the Fire's Gone Out."

Does that describe you? It does me ... often. That's a picture of far too many Christians. Going through the motions—attending church, singing hymns, even serving, but the flame is gone. Saint Catherine of Siena once said, "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." 

Jesus came to light a fire in you and me. We mustn't let it go out. We must tend it, feed it, let it grow until it consumes everything that is not of God. Because when your heart is on fire for Him, you'll find a deeper love, a stronger faith, and—yes—  a peace the world can't give and can't take away.                                                    

Let's go set the world on fire!

The Good Samaritan

Read Luke 10:25-37

“The one who treated him with mercy.”

That’s who Jesus said was the good neighbor. This parable invites us to examine our
own actions toward others, especially those in need. In the story of the Good Samaritan,
a man is robbed, beaten, and left for dead. A priest walks by and does nothing. A
Levite passes by and does nothing. Both are respected religious figures—yet neither
stops to help. Then comes a Samaritan – an outsider – someone marginalized by
Jewish society. He becomes the hero of the story. He is the good neighbor.

As I read this Gospel I could not help but think of the immigration challenges we face
today in the United States. In Jesus’ time the Jews viewed Samaritans much the way
some Americans view undocumented immigrants.

What if Jesus told this story now, in our context? What if this scene were 21st century
America. And the Samaritan was an undocumented migrant? What if the one moved
with compassion, the one who cared for the injured man, was someone without legal
status in our country?
Would we hear this parable differently?

Far too many today see nothing good in the immigrant—just as the Jews saw nothing
good in the Samaritan. But those who follow Jesus are asked to see this issue
differently. We are called to see suffering in our world, not with fear, but with mercy.

Another way to interpret this story is to see the immigrant not as the Samaritan, but as
the injured man. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was dangerous. So too is the
journey many immigrants make today to get to our boarders. They walk
hundreds—even thousands—of miles, crossing deserts, rivers, and borders, sometimes
encountering walls. They so often do this not out of desire but out of
desperation—fleeing violence, poverty, persecution and the fear of death. They are
often robbed by traffickers, some are beaten, many suffer.

This story from Jesus stings, because it reveals a hard truth: We are called to seek fair
conditions for all involved the migrant and the citizen. Mercy is the goal for everyone
involved. And mercy comes from good laws that are fair to all.
The final words of Jesus in the parable are these: “Go and do likewise.”
This is not a suggestion, it’s a call to action. We are called to embody mercy in real and
practical ways:

• By advocating for just immigration policies – that are fair to immigrant and citizen alike.
• By remembering that our people, too, were immigrants to this country.
• By recognizing that our spiritual ancestors— Abraham, Moses, Mary, and Joseph—were also migrants and refugee. Mary and Joseph were immigrants to Egypt fleeing a brutal leader who wanted to kill their child.

Yes, we are called to respect the law. But we are also called to follow – a higher law –
God’s law. The law of love—the law of mercy—calls us to care for our neighbors; and
our neighbor includes everyone. The Catholic Church teaches both the right of people
to migrate and the right of nations to regulate immigration.

This is an incredibly complex issue, but one thing is an overriding truth, that we are
called to view every person—documented or not—through the lens of human dignity
and compassion.

Many, if not most, of the people immigrating here are poor and vulnerable, who are
seeking safety and a chance to live a better life. Just like our own ancestors once did.
My family came to this country fleeing famine and unrest in Ireland. This nation received
them and gave them a fresh start.

We must not forget that our Declaration of Independence proclaims that all people “are
created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Catholic social teaching, the parable of the Good Samaritan and our country’s own
founding documents all call us to compassion and mercy.

If Jesus were here with us today and someone asked, “What does it mean to be a good
neighbor – in this moment?”

He would answer, 
“The good neighbor is the one who treats others with mercy.”

Let us go—and do likewise.

          

Luke 6:27-28 says: 

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."

What Jesus is saying today might be best understood by recalling the Law of the Echo. The law of the echo says we get back from life exactly what we give to it. This law says that if you shout into an echo chamber a shout will return to you.  If you curse into an echo chamber a curse will return to you. And if you sing into an echo chamber a song will come back to you.  The “law of the echo’’ tells us you get back from life exactly what you give to life. Give abuse and you will get abuse back.  Give love and you will get love back. If you want more love in a relationship be more loving.

There is a story about Jesus that is not in the bible.  It’s a story that is attributed to a Muslim actually, and it goes:  

As Jesus and his disciples entered a village some of the villagers began to harass Jesus shouting unkind words and harsh accusations. But Jesus answered them by bowing down and offering words of blessing. A disciple said to him,  "aren’t you angry with them? How can you bless them?" Jesus answered, 'I can only give what I have in my purse.'” Here the purse is a metaphor for one’s heart.

Jesus is asking us today to take a good honest look at ourselves because we too can only give what we carry in our hearts, our purse.

Some of you may remember when President Ronald Reagan was shot. He had just finished speaking at a luncheon as he left the hotel a gunman fired six shots.  The president and three aides where hit. He was rushed to the hospital where they saved his life. 

In his biography Regan told what was going through his mind as the doctors worked on him.  The president said “I prayed and as I prayed I realized that I could not ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed-up young man who shot me.”  He went on “We are all God’s children and therefore equally loved by God. So, I began praying for the young man.” Regan said “then I could calmly ask God to help me which God did.” 

This brings us to today’s Gospel where Jesus says: “Love your enemies and pray for those who mistreat you.” The question we are all being asked today is, when we are hurt, attacked, or insulted how do we react?  Certainly, one way to react is with hatred. Jesus says today that is the wrong way to respond. Why? Why is that the wrong way to respond? There is an old saying that speaks to this, it says:

“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

Jesus is saying the same thing to us today. He is telling us that the way to become the kind of person who lives with love is by becoming a person who always responds with love?                                          

Jesus said: 

“Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.                                                                                                  Stop judging and you will not be judged.                                                                                                      Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.                                                                                      Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

We must never forget, we get back from life exactly what we give to life.

John 15:1-8 The Vine and the Branches

We all struggle sometimes to understand what our relationship with God should look like. Today, Jesus gives us a powerful image that clearly shows what our relationship with Him should be. Jesus said our relationship with Him should be as close as the grapevine is to its branches.  

Think about that … 

He does not describe our faith life as an occasional thing, just one aspect of our lives. He says that our religion, our faith, is what gives us life. He compares us to branches attached to him, the lifegiving vine. Religion isn't meant to be a mere part of our lives; it's meant to be everything; afterall branches wither and die if they are away from the vine.                                                                                                        

Jesus says today we will die … spiritually … if we aren't connected to Him.  That's big.  

Our belief is not in some distant God, some abstract God in the heavens. It's just the opposite. Jesus says we are called to be connected to our God intimately. A connection that is life giving a connection whose purpose is to produce fruit. In this vine-to-branch relationship described in this Gospel reading,  God wants fruit to result from our relationship with him! Fruit is mentioned six times in our text and eight times in this chapter.                                                                                                              

Jesus says:   "This glorifies My Father that you bear much fruit ."  We can only bear fruit by being attached to the vine. So, what does being attached to the vine look like? The vine needs to be cultivated, fertilized, and watered. Then it is pruned to produce fruit.   We nurture our relationship with the vine by reading scripture, meditating, praying, coming to Mass, and conversing with other believers. Only after cultivating our faith and deepening our relationship with Christ can we bear fruit.

We produce fruit by loving others generously and by sharing our life-giving faith. That's the fruit. The fruit we are called to produce comes from us spreading the love we know from our connection to Christ to others everywhere we go. This means loving our neighbor and taking care of our neighbor's needs. It means spreading love everywhere … everywhere. Is that how someone would describe you: "spreading love everywhere you go." Wouldn't that be nice!  

I heard a true story that might help explain what I'm trying to say. A few years back, a college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of about 200 boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case, the students wrote: "He doesn't have a chance." Twenty-five years later, another sociology professor at the same university came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. Except for 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 men had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businesspeople. The astounded professor decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area, and he could ask each one: "How do you account for your success?" In each case, the reply came with a feeling:  "There was this teacher."

The teacher was still alive, so the professor sought her out and asked the old but alert lady what magic formula she had used. Her eyes sparkled, and her lips broke into a gentle smile, "It's really very simple." she said, "I loved those boys."

We make this thing we call religion far more complicated than necessary; Jesus Christ tells us what religion is all about. He tells us today that He nurtures us, gives us life, and asks that we love others as He loves. That's it. Our religion is all about being loved and loving others.  

That teacher understood the power of God's love, which allowed her to love those boys into what they became. The fruit we are called to produce comes from loving others with the same kind of love we have received from God—a life-giving love.  

Homily Third Sunday in Advent 2023

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice,” 

Saint Paul, in the second reading, says something thought-provoking. He said, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

Twenty-five years ago, when I was battling cancer. And I discovered this reading from Saint Paul: "Give thanks in all circumstances,” Give thanks for cancer. Are you kidding me? But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get this reading out of my head. Mercifully, I went into remission but kept thinking about this reading. The truth is, as crazy as it sounds, I began to realize that the cancer brought me closer to Jesus. Looking back at that time, it is clear to me I would not be a deacon today if not for the cancer.  

When faced with significant challenges like illness, job loss, or relationship challenges, the question that often comes to mind is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”    

We have all faced trials and sufferings of different kinds. Losing loved ones, facing sickness, and financial struggles have disrupted the lives of people all over the world. I'm sure there have been times when you, too, asked, "Why me?" Why did my father get cancer? Why did my child die? Why does a child have to live with a disability like cerebral palsy? 

When pondering why bad things happen, and they happen to all of us, the critical question to be answered is: How will we respond? That is what I think our readings today are asking us. What do we intend to do now that “It” has happened? Can we live loving lives in a world that has disappointed us by not being perfect? 

Christianity, our faith, helps us, and enables us to face our challenges and work through them. We live in a broken world. Jesus is asking us today: Can we rejoice? Can we find JOY in the face of a world full of imperfections? A world capable of containing great beauty and goodness at the same time. Can we find joy in this world because it is our only world?

God's will for our lives is about more than the circumstances we face. It is about how we respond to those circumstances.

 My wife Linda has a saying that always makes me smile and think. She says, "Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning how to dance in the rain."  Even in the storms of life, as worshipers of God, we can rejoice; we can dance in the rain because of what Jesus has gained for us. 

In our church, the stations of the cross are so powerful, and one of the most powerful statements in these stations is here at the end. It says, “For behold by the wood of the cross JOY came into the whole world.” 

Crosses bring JOY? Yes! Christ’s cross brought us great joy. We rejoice not because our circumstances are perfect! We rejoice because, as St Paul told us in his letter to the Romans: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”

God can and does work in our challenges. When you get to my age and look back, there are plenty of challenges. My career didn’t go as we planned. We lost our fourth child, which is never an easy situation. These experiences helped us help other couples who have lost a child or lost a job. My journey with cancer has allowed me to speak with people and pray with people going through something similar.

I’ve learned that – the experiences of our lives, if we let God use them, are the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work he would have us do. 

Yes, bad things happen to good people. But when we learn to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, we can live this way when we respond to our challenges with HOPE.   

During the Vietnam War, they imprisoned the Catholic bishop of South Vietnam for 13 years in solitary confinement. He was asked later in life how he made it through that experience. He said something we all should embrace. He said: “I told myself I will not wait. I will live the present moment, filling it to the brim with love.” He said, “I simply recall that I must live each day, each moment as if it were the last of my life. I leave aside everything accidental and concentrate only on the essential, then each word, each gesture, each telephone call, and each decision I make is the most beautiful of my life. I give my love to everyone and my smile to everyone. I am afraid of wasting even one second by living without meaning.” 

He said, "Only one moment exists for you in all its beauty, and that is the present moment. Live it entirely in the love of God.

When we follow this advice and live each moment, we can live through the challenges and allow God to use them as Jesus did. 

St. Paul and this Vietnamese bishop understood that it is not joy that makes us grateful but it is gratitude that makes us joyful.

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

We are living in challenging times. We are dealing with a difficult economic situation, with inflation impacting all of us. We hear over and over the perils of global warming. We recently lived through a pandemic. And now wars are flaring up around the globe. 

It's easy to get so caught up in this kind of news that we lose heart. Jesus says to each one of us today: Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose heart.

If you are focused on the world's problems, he tells us you are focused on the wrong thing. The most important commandment our God has given us is to LOVE.

Jesus is saying our call in life is to love God and each other … period.

The good news of our faith is that this love we are called to is not one way. God never gives up on us. God never stops loving us. He is always seeking us out, patiently offering His love for us. When we love God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole soul, when loving God and each other becomes the focus of our lives, the problems of the world fade into the background.

The love Jesus speaks of is not mere sentiment. He is asking us to make a total commitment to God, to love God and each other, to make this the focus of our lives.

He is calling us to make loving God our highest priority. And then to express that love through loving actions towards others. If we truly love God, we will love everyone God loves, even those who are, for us, rather unlovable.

About 100 years after the time of Christ, a non-Christian named Aristides wrote to Emperor Hadrian describing how the early Christians lived. Listen to these words. They tell us what we are called to be like.

Aristides said to the Emperor, "Christians love one another. They never fail to help widows. They save orphans from those who would hurt them. If a Christian person has something, he gives to a person who has nothing. If they see a stranger, Christians invite them to come into their home and consider them a brother or a sister. If they see someone who is ill or someone who is in prison, they go visit them. If they hear that one of them is in great tribulation, they will give that person all that he or she needs. These Christians are a new kind of people. They seem to be filled with the Spirit of God! There is something Divine in them.”  

This description by Aristides is what we, as followers of Christ, are called to be. That is what Jesus is talking about today: loving our God and loving each other. If we make that our priority, it changes us. We see the world differently. We live out our call to LOVE. It may not change the world, but it will undoubtedly change us; it will change OUR WORLD.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves means seeing and treating others with the respect and love that God gives them.

As Christians, we don't want to waste our lives. We know in our hearts that what Jesus says today is true.We know Jesus is right when he says the only path to life is loving God and our neighbor as ourselves. We want to do something and not just talk about it. 

So what are we to do? 

First, we must let God's love enfold us. In the embrace of him, who sees everything yet loves us nonetheless, we find the power to act. The power to give ourselves to one another. And in doing that, we'll find the joy we long for.

Trust in God’s love for you. Trust the full extent of it. Let him enfold you completely, and the power to love with all your heart will follow. Living in this world of love, it becomes much easier to – as the great saint Padre Pio said – pray, hope, and don't worry.

Always remember God loves you and wants your love in return.

 Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.

Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?'

Reflection

If I polled the congregation this morning, I think many, if not most of us, would feel the first workers who worked all day and received the same as those who worked a few hours got a lousy deal.

This story isn’t really about the workers being taken advantage of, because they’re receiving exactly what He promised them. When we look at this situation, it's easy to make the big mistake of judging by the world's standards, not God's. The prophet Isaiah reminds us God does not think like us!

This story is all about the vineyard owner’s generosity.   God’s generosity.

In this parable, the vineyard owner is God, and all of humanity are the workers. If we judge this situation by God's standards, we might discover that when you come to faith in God, when you enter God's vineyard, is not the issue; the issue is how generous our God is when we do enter his vineyard.

A few years ago, my good friend Bob O'Neill told me a story about a friend of his. Bob was a judge, and the friend he told me about was also a judge. Bob's friend was dying, and he was very depressed. The judge who was passing had not been a man of faith. In fact, he was a person who had regularly ridiculed people of faith. On his deathbed, Bob heard that his friend was frightened. Bob O'Neil visited his friend and courageously asked his friend how he was with God. The terminally ill man said to Bob: It’s too late for me. 

To which Bob responded by reading his friend – this passage – this parable from the bible. He told his friend that God doesn't care when you enter the vineyard. The reward is the same. That day, Bob's friend committed his life to Christ and passed on a few days later, full of joy. Bob's courageous conversation impacted the man's whole family, who found God through their father’s spiritual journey.  

How does Jesus’ parable of the Workers apply to us today?

Look at it this way. Every Christian is a worker God calls to labor in the vineyard of God's earthly Kingdom. Some of us were called at birth; we are often called "cradle Catholics." And maybe some of us workers are not carrying our workload. Perhaps this is why the vineyard owner in the parable had to keep hiring more workers. It wasn't that he had underestimated the size of the job. It’s just that some of the all-day workers were not pulling their load. They were not using their talents as God had intended that they use them. This leads us back to the fact that some late-coming Christians are doing remarkable work in the vineyard of God's Kingdom. Converts to the faith are often among the hardest-working members of the Church. I think about 20% of all the deacons in San Diego are converts.

So, as we return to the altar, let us thank God for the zeal and the inspiration of those who have been called at a later hour to work in the vineyard of God’s Kingdom.  And let us ask God to inspire and motivate us to join them in working harder to bring in the great harvest that is out there. 

Like my friend Bob O’Neill did.

Then, in heaven, we will all rejoice together, singing the praises of our God, who has been so merciful, forgiving, and generous.

What happened at the Ascension?

We might compare the feast of the Ascension to the passing of a baton from one runner to another in a relay race. That day Jesus passed the baton of responsibility for the Kingdom of God to his followers … to us.                                                                                                                                

Jesus gave us the assignment to complete the work He began. 

The message of the Ascension is a simple one. Jesus invites us to take from his hand the baton he received from his Father; and tells us to continue the work that his Father gave Him to do on earth. It’s a call to witness Jesus and teach others about Him wherever we find ourselves and in whatever manner the Holy Spirit inspires us to use.

The Ascension is all about simply taking Jesus' invitation seriously to be His witness to our world and his teacher to those we encounter in our life.

As Jesus exited this earth, He asked us to continue the work He began on earth in the environments where we live … our homes … our places of work … our parishes. Does this mean we must preach about Jesus as Peter and the other disciples did in our first reading? For most of us, probably not. It’s more about how we live. St. Frances once said: "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary."

Taking the baton from Jesus means living the Gospel in our daily lives. At the very least, it means being witnesses to Jesus in our own families. Only if we begin taking our Christian calling seriously will the message of Jesus take hold in our world. And, if we step out in faith and do it, our faith will ripple around the globe. And, if enough of us do it, that ripple will grow into a tidal wave. And that tidal wave — empowered by the Holy Spirit — will renew the face of the earth in a way we never dreamed possible.

Don't be disheartened; pick up the baton and carry on!

With gratitude 

optimism is sustainable.

If you can find something

to be grateful for

Then you find something

to look forward to

Then you can carry on. 

I've been to four funerals in the past week or so. Which filled my heart with this message for us all: Life is short, and the goal should be to live each moment to the fullest. We mustn’t waste time in anger, regrets, and worries. Life is too short to be holding grudges. 

Mother Theresa said, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet. We have only today.”

My two brothers and I did not speak to each other for many years. Some of that was from past hurts, but most was laziness. We didn't take the time to reach out to each other. My brothers died within a few months of each other last year. My heart is heavy with regret. Learn from me – call someone today and tell them you care; mend fences if you need to. Life is fleeting.

One way to make life more joyful is to be grateful. Gratitude and joy are uniquely linked. According to a study by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness, people who keep a happiness journal for a week feel happier than people who don't, even three months after they stopped writing it.

Lately, I've learned to take some time in the morning - praying, sipping coffee, and coming up with my day's to-do list. It has become the most precious time of the day for me now. I try to make sure the things on my list are not just chores but reflect what came to my heart during prayer. I try to ensure my list includes things I want to be doing and reaching out to people God put on my heart. In my morning prayer time, I reflect on the life I want to be living.

A Swiss philosopher once said: "Life is short. We don't have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind," and I would add to that beautiful message to always be aware of the blessings of God, who made us, loves us, and encourages us to love one another.

 On October 7, we celebrate 

the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary 

in honor of the Blessed Mother.  

October was also the month in which Mary appeared for the last time to shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, 

urging them to 

'SAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY 

TO OBTAIN PEACE FOR THE WORLD.'

Join me this October

praying the rosary for peace in Ukraine

God values humility - Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

There aren't too many benefits of growing old, except if you live long enough, you begin to put things in perspective. When you're young, you constantly worry about what other people think of you. You worry about whether they think you're good-looking or your peers think you are cool. I can’t imagine what it’s like with social media! If you're lucky, you stop worrying about those things somewhere along the line. You stop caring so much about what other people think of you. And when you get to my age, you realize that most of the people you worried about weren’t thinking about you at all. 

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is with a whole lot of people who were all caught up in what others thought of them. And he told them a truth about how God sees us. He said:

“Those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.” Luke 14:11

We all want to be great … right?   So, what does it mean to be humble?

Does it mean to put ourselves down?

Does it mean to think less of ourselves? 

Does it mean to deny our true worth or to belittle it?

Not at all!

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself. It doesn't mean having a low opinion of your gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all. When we take ourselves out of the picture, what is left? God and others. That is what Jesus is talking about, putting God and others first in our lives.

Jesus is the most remarkable example of humility. In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul tells us: “… though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” Jesus Christ was humble. He lived his life obeying his Father and serving us, even giving up his life to save us. 

To be humble is to imitate Jesus. He once said about himself: “The Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve." Mark 10:45  If you are struggling to understand what Jesus is saying about humility, just think of Him on his knees washing his disciples' feet. Or think about Him on the cross giving up his life for us. True humility is to take the talents that God has given us and use them to lift others up. 

I read a story about Pope John Paul II, now "Saint" John Paul II. The story goes that a priest was visiting Rome. And on the steps of one of the churches, he saw a beggar who looked very familiar. To his surprise, he realized it was one of his classmates from the seminary. "Didn't we go to the seminary together?" he asked. "Yes," said the beggar. "But you're a priest, right?" "Not anymore," the beggar replied, "I fell off the deep end."

A short time later, the priest had an audience with Pope John Paul II. He told him the story and asked him to pray for his friend. The Pope assured him that he would. Later that day, the priest received a phone call inviting him to have dinner with the Pope, and the Pope asked him to bring the ex-priest with him. He ran to the church, found his friend, and gave him the good news. But the beggar said, "I'm a mess. I haven't showered in a  long time, and my clothes are filthy." But the priest took him back to his hotel room and helped him get all cleaned up.

At the end of a very enjoyable dinner, the Holy Father asked to be alone with the ex-priest. After a long while, the man came out with tears in his eyes. "What happened?" his friend asked. The man replied, "The Pope asked me to hear his confession! I told him, 'Your Holiness, look at me! I'm a beggar, not a priest!'  But the Pope looked at me and said, "Who among us is not a beggar? I too come before the Lord as a beggar asking for forgiveness of my sins." I told him I was not in good standing with the Church, but the Pope assured me that as the Bishop of Rome, he could reinstate me right then and there."

After he heard the Holy Father's confession, the newly reinstated priest asked the Pope to hear his confession. Then Pope John Paul II gave him an assignment to minister to the beggars on the steps of the church where he had been found. Through the humility of Pope John Paul II, who saw himself as God saw him, this former beggar received a new hope, a new mission, and a new beginning.

The Goal for each of us is to see ourselves as God sees us. The world doesn’t believe that the Virtue of Humility is important or even desirable. But God thinks otherwise. To be truly humble means to see ourselves as God sees us.

We’re about to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. But before we do, we will all make the following statement: 

“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

We say these words first spoken by a Roman Centurion, a very powerful man, a very successful man who came to Jesus to plead for him to save his sick servant. Jesus was a nobody in that culture, just a humble carpenter, but this powerful man came to him in humility. And like that Centurion, in a few minutes, we are called to humble ourselves before Jesus and see his power and presence in the simple bread and wine that Father Sebastian will bless in a moment. We believe as Catholics that in the holy Eucharist, the Lord is truly and substantially present under the appearance of bread and wine. Just as the mighty Centurion recognized God's power in a humble carpenter, we are called to see that same Jesus in the humble elements of bread and wine. So today, let’s each of us say those words before communion with conviction. In true humility, let us open our hearts to the Lord our God, who humbled himself to join us today.

Martha and Mary Homily

 

The great American philosopher Dolly Parton once said:

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”   

Martha was so busy serving Jesus that she missed something much more important. … Because I’m kind of a Martha, I get her. For me, she is the servant leader of the family, doing what needs to be done. But it’s also clear that Mary, the devoted learner chose the better part. She recognized the rare opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus to learn from and pray with Him. 

Making dinner or being with Jesus? From our perspective, it's easy to see which is the better choice. Both women were serving Jesus but choosing different ways to serve. Both sisters are admirable; they both acted out of love.

Luke positions this story between two of Jesus’ most important teachings. I don’t think that’s an accident. Right before this story comes the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is the ultimate story of discipleship as service. And right after the Martha and Mary story, Luke tells how the disciples come to Jesus and say Lord teach us to pray. So you see. The sister of service and the sister of prayer are sandwiched right between the two passages, emphasizing the importance of service and devotion.

So why did Jesus say Mary picked “the better part?” Martha's mistake that day was to get so caught up in her servants' heart, so full of worry about her hostess duties, that she completely misses the more significant point. As was so often the case, Jesus was doing something radical that day.

The reading tells us: that Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak. Rather than assuming the role expected of women in her culture,  she takes her place at the feet of Jesus. She assumes the posture of a student learning at the feet of a rabbi, a role traditionally reserved for men. And Jesus encouraged her. Jesus accepted Mary at the same level as a male disciple. She was assuming a position equal to a man. To call women to be equal to men in discipleship was radical. So radical Martha missed it. That was her mistake. She got so caught up in her work. She missed the better part. She missed the opportunity Jesus was calling her to because she was too busy with busy work. He was calling her to something more important than making dinner.

We do that! We can get so busy in our lives that we don't hear Jesus' call to us to do something big. We can't hear God calling us because we get so caught up in our work. We don’t take the time to listen. We don’t take the time to sit at his feet and listen to his call. We don’t take some time in quiet prayer to listen to God. We get so caught up in the day-to-day work that we forget to spend quality time each day with Jesus. And because of that, we can miss how he is calling us.

So many of us right now are like Martha, anxious and worried about many things. Jesus gives us the medicine for that anxiousness and worry. He shows it to us through Mary spending time at the feet of Jesus. 

Jesus wants us to be his disciples, all of us. He wants us to slow down and spend more time in study and prayer. Like Dolly Parton, he's asking us to “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

When I was a kid, we had nuns teaching in our Catholic grammar schools. They taught us from something called the Baltimore Catechism. It was a series of questions that the catechism answered.

Question # 6. It is one everyone who learned from this book can repeat. The question was: 

Why did God make you?

And all the students would answer:

God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.

Martha and Mary teach us this same lesson. Mary shows us how important it is to KNOW him and Martha shows us how important it is to SERVE him. Ultimately, the goal is to LOVE him. But … we need to slow down enough to know and love our God.

I heard a poem a few years back that I think of whenever I'm going too fast – when I'm locked on to making a living rather than a life. I'd like to end with it today. 

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain

Slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask: How are you?

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

You’d better slow down.

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,

We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time

To call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through the day,

It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower.

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

 

“God made you great. Stay great.”

Mark Link SJ

 

PROGRESS IN PRAYER 

“To some extent
prayer comes naturally to man.
Like anything innate
it often tends to follow
a natural rhythm identifiable with growth.

During childhood
recited prayer predominates
words learned by heart or read from a book ...

From adolescence to adulthood
meditative prayer develops.
We also find spoken prayer during this period.
This species, while focusing upon
a subject of one’s own choosing,
breaks forth spontaneously ...

It may be the outburst of an emotion of joy,
praise, gratefulness, sorrow ...

Finally,, silent prayer
is the prayer of the mature man, whose soul
remains speechless in the presence of God
aware of the inadequacy of whatever the soul may say to him.
But is simply content
to rest in God’s entrancing company.”

by Michael Lapierre, S.J.

Asking God your reason for being ...

I give you 

life 

I place you on 

earth 

for a very

special reason

but you won’t 

find out unless 

you ask me what 

the reason is

and talking 

is so easy

why don’t 

you do more 

with me?

J. Janda

 Saint Stephen 

Saint Philip

Saint Prochorus

Saint Nicanor

Saint Timon

Saint Parmenas

Saint Nicholas

Pray for the success of our Million Meal Event